Referendum Advice Cost Crocker $100,000

BOCA RATON -- Crocker & Co. wanted to win the special election on Mizner Park and was willing to pay about $100,000 for expert advice on how to do so.

``There is no question $100,000 is a lot of money,`` said Tom Crocker, president of Crocker & Co. ``I put money on the line. But I did it because I think Mizner Park is good for Boca and my company.``

``I wanted to win this election and I wanted the person who could best advise me on how. All I purchased was advice.``

The Community Redevelopment Agency will buy the 30-acre mall site from Crocker & Co. and lease 10 acres back to the company for development as the retail-office-residential part of the project.

The remainder of the parcel will be set aside for civic or cultural organizations.

The strategies worked out by election and media consultants hired by Crocker & Co. proved effective.

In Tuesday`s special election, about 62 percent of the voters endorsed the Mizner Park commercial-cultural complex slated for development on the Boca Mall site on Federal Highway north of Palmetto Park Road.

``We played a good offensive game and we had an excellent team,`` said Robin Bernstein of Rizbur Inc., a West Palm Beach political consulting firm.

``I`ve never seen such a tremendous effort by all sectors of the community,`` said Bernstein, who worked on Harry Johnston`s recent successful campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives.

The campaign strategy included identifying five precincts to lobby heavily. One of those was Boca Teeca, the precinct with the highest voter turnout. In Boca Teeca, 71 percent of the voters turning out for the special election cast their ballots in favor of Mizner Park.

Poll watchers were also used to ensure that voters who said they supported the project went to the polls to register their support.

The financial disclosure statement of Crocker & Co.`s political action committee called Voters for Mizner Park arrived in the city clerk`s office Wednesday with the Friday deadline postmarked on the envelope.

W.J. Crocker & Sons and BRM Associates Ltd., both Crocker companies, were the sole contributors to the political action committee.

Expenditures included nearly $10,000 for political consulting firms such as Rizbur Inc.; about $26,000 for media consulting with firms from Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas; legal fees of about $7,000; and public relations costs of about $10,000.